Rifles Part III. Magazines In Motion: Revolvers, Turrets, & Harmonicas Revolving Magazines The nineteenth century was a time of great mechanical innovation, marked by thousands of inventive creators seeking patents for all manner of curiously-engineered devices. Firearms were no exception, and a glance at any “weird weapons” collection reveals dozens of oddities, often stamped between 1820–1860. Many of these utilized some form of revolving magazine, whether a cylinder, a cluster of barrels, a turret, or some form of rotary chain. This introduction offers a short history of the revolver, followed by profiles for the more unique, popular, or interesting repeaters that use some form of moving magazine. A more detailed history of revolvers and the Colt patent is found in “Deadlands Armory—Revolvers.” Pepperbox Guns The general mechanism of a revolving magazine evolved from the “pepperbox” gun of the early nineteenth century. A pepperbox gun features a cluster of smooth-bore barrels which are rotated into position and fired individually. Predating the advent of the cartridge, pepperbox guns are muzzle-loaded, and require a separate primer charge for each barrel. Pepperbox guns began fading in popularity before the Civil War, replaced by the more efficient percussion revolver. The Percussion Revolver One of the most significant innovations in firearm design, a revolver features a cylindrical magazine that holds each round in an individual chamber. The first modern revolver was designed by Elisha Haydon Collier in 1814, and was a self-priming flintlock with a manually- rotated cylindrical magazine. Having been exposed to the Collier revolver during a voyage abroad, Samuel Colt made the critical innovation that earned him one of the century’s most famous patents—a revolving cylinder that was mechanically rotated. Colt introduced his first revolver in 1836, the famous “Colt Paterson” percussion revolver. This gun set the standard for COPYRIGHT 2017 BY A. BUELL RUCH. PAGE 1 OF 37 the next few decades, and most percussion revolvers operate the same way. The cylinder is loaded from the front. The user fills each chamber with a measured amount of gunpowder, and uses a loading lever to seat the shot firmly in place. Once the cylinder is loaded, the user places individual percussion caps on the nipples at the rear of the cylinder. To fire the revolver, the shooter cocks the hammer, which rotates the cylinder, bringing a new chamber into alignment with the barrel. Pulling the trigger drops the hammer onto the percussion cap (or sometimes activates a concealed firing pin). The user then re-cocks the hammer to index a new chamber. Because pulling the trigger simply releases the hammer, this is known as a “single action” design. Later models employed a “double action” mechanism, in which a single trigger pull both cocks and releases the hammer, eliminating the need for the shooter to manually cock the hammer in between shots. Requiring a longer and often jerkier “trigger pull,” double-action revolvers trade accuracy for speed. Chain Fire Early percussion revolvers were subject to “chain fire.” Also known as “cross-fire,” this occurs when loose gunpowder escapes from a chamber and spreads into the cylinder, the action, or somewhere else it’s not supposed to be. When the primer is detonated, the stray powder ignites, often triggering a chain reaction that fires all chambers simultaneously! Not only can this damage or destroy the revolver, it may harm the user. Shooters usually prevent chain fire by greasing the mouth of each chamber with lard or tallow. Chain fire is more common in old revolvers, in which corrosion may worry holes between the chambers of a cylinder. In terms of game mechanics, when a user of a cap and ball revolver gets a critical failure on his Shooting roll, chain fire discharges all remaining chambers and causes 1d8 DAM to the shooter. A subsequent Repair roll is required to mend the firearm, or it is considered permanently damaged. Cylinder Gap Blast A problem inherent with all types of revolvers is “cylinder gap blast.” Because the cylinder of a revolver is traditionally unenclosed, the explosion of gunpowder in the chamber sends a scorching blast of hot gas from the gap between the cylinder and the frame. This “gap blast” may also include unreacted grains of gunpowder and shavings of hot lead known as “spall,” which splash from the bullet as it transfers from the chamber to the bore. On a handgun, the effects of gap blast on the shooter’s hand may be avoided by holding the revolver correctly, with the supporting hand reinforcing the firing hand. However, a rifle is usually held with the supporting hand gripping the forestock, which is located directly in front of the forward cylinder gap. This may result in a burned or injured forearm, wrist, or hand. Even the shooter’s anticipation of gap blast may lead to flinching, with a corresponding decrease in accuracy. Furthermore, because some of the propellant escapes the cylinder, gap blast decreases muzzle velocity, one of the reasons that revolving rifles traditionally lack the range and firepower of other rifles. Turret Guns One interesting way to circumvent Colt’s patent on the revolving cylinder was to re-imagine the revolving magazine as a disc, its multiple chambers placed equidistantly along the perimeter like the spokes of a wheel. Known as “turrets,” these discs could be mounted horizontally or vertically within the frame of the rifle, and functioned by bringing a loaded chamber into alignment much the same as a revolver. Unfortunately, turret guns had two major problems. First, the turret was invariably larger and heavier than a cylinder. While this could accommodate larger calibers, it added weight to the rifle. Second and more importantly, the loaded chambers of a turret were always pointing radially outwards, with some chambers aimed uncomfortably close to the shooter COPYRIGHT 2017 BY A. BUELL RUCH. PAGE 2 OF 37 himself! Needless to say, this makes chain fire a very real concern. The Marshal should treat chain fire from a turret revolver as a “small burst,” inflicting 1d8 DAM/loaded chamber to everyone within “Short” range of the gun, including the shooter! The Rollin White Patent The introduction of metallic cartridges made the cap and ball system obsolete. Because the round’s primer is integrated into the cartridge, no percussion caps are required to fire the gun. For a metallic cartridge to be inserted into a revolving cylinder, the cylinder needs to be bored fully through so the entire chamber can be in alignment with firing pin and barrel. In 1855, a gunsmith named Rollin White was granted a patent for a revolver design which included this fully-bored cylinder. A year later White signed an exclusivity contract with Smith & Wesson. In 1869, White attempted to extend his patent through legal means, but Ulysses S. Grant, acting under the authority of martial law, denied his request on the grounds that White’s patent was “an inconvenience and embarrassment” to Union forces for the “inability of manufacturers to use this patent.” The Rollin White patent expired, and cartridge-based revolvers became the standard handgun of the American west. COPYRIGHT 2017 BY A. BUELL RUCH. PAGE 3 OF 37 The Armory: Revolving Rifles Wheeler Pepperbox Carbine 1818–1825?, USA, muzzle-loaded flintlock, pepperbox, smoothbore. Caliber .52, Range 3/6/60, Capacity 7, Rate of Fire 1/2, DAM 2d10, STR d6, Very rare. Note: Loading a Wheeler flintlock requires the standard three action rounds for each barrel. Invented by Concord gunsmith Captain Artemas Wheeler, the Wheeler Revolving Flintlock is the first revolving firearm to be patented in the United States. It is composed of six 12½” barrels which are rotated counterclockwise into position by hand. A primer box mounted on top of the frame automatically fills each pan with powder as the new barrel ratchets into place. Wheeler Revolving Cylinder Musket 1820–1825?, USA, flintlock, revolving cylinder, smoothbore. Caliber .52, Range 4/40/80, Capacity 7, Rate of Fire 1/2, DAM 2d10, STR d6, Very rare. Artemas Wheeler’s musket trades the multiple barrels of his carbine for a single 32” barrel backed by a revolving seven-chambered cylinder. When the shooter pulls the trigger-guard release, the cylinder unlocks, allowing the next chamber to be manually rotated into place. As with his pepperbox, a primer magazine fills each pan automatically as it rotates. Little is known historically about this gun, which was soon superseded by Elisha Haydon Collier’s revolvers. COPYRIGHT 2017 BY A. BUELL RUCH. PAGE 4 OF 37 Collier Revolving Musket, “First Model” 1818–1820?, UK, flintlock, revolving cylinder, smoothbore. Caliber .69, Range 5/50/100, Capacity 5, Rate of Fire 1/2, DAM 2d12, STR d6, Very rare. Notes: On a critical failure, the pan flash triggers an explosion in the primer magazine, requiring a workshop and a Repair roll to fix. Some Collier models have a built-in bayonet that folds into position under the barrel. One of Captain Artemas Wheeler’s collaborators was Elisha Haydon Collier, an inventor from Boston. Although history has not recorded their exact professional relationship, or to what extent Collier helped Wheeler design and/or manufacture his muskets, records show that Collier came up with an improved revolver mechanism in 1814. Four years later Collier moved to England and received a patent, after which he founded Collier & Co. to produce a line of firearms based on his design. Although revolving magazines were not a new concept, Collier’s revolver was the first to achieve appreciable success, and was a direct inspiration for Samuel Colt’s “Paterson.” Collier’s revolver uses a brass cylinder backed by a spring-driven piston.